Efficacy of infection control pathway in reducing postoperative infections in patients undergoing neurosurgery

The environment of the operating room (OR) is closely related to the postoperative complications of patients, and it is necessary to study, to what extent, the stringent management of the OR can reduce postoperative complications.

426 patients who underwent surgery between January 2016 and December 2017 were selected from two class-100 laminar flow ORs of equivalent area, and were divided into an experimental group and a control group.

The experimental group had significantly lower total air-borne bacterial count in the OR than the control group 10 minutes before surgery (6.21 ± 4.14 vs. 11.58 ± 5.36 CFU/cm3), 10 minutes (15.67 ± 6.21 vs. 20.83 ± 5.78 CFU/cm3), 30 minutes (27.34 ± 8.18 vs. 39.56 ± 7.86 CFU/cm3) and 60 minutes (43.62 ± 7.66 vs. 51.63 ± 8.43 CFU/cm3) into surgery, and at the end of surgery (57.34 ± 7.67 vs. 69.33 ± 9.41 CFU/cm3) (all p < 0.05). The incidence rates of increased body temperature and leukocyte count 3 days post-surgery, and the duration of antibiotic therapy and hospital stay were significantly reduced in the experimental group compared to the control group (all p < 0.05). Furthermore, the total number of pathogens in the incision at 2 hours into surgery was also significantly lower in the experimental group than in the control group (p < 0.05).

Stringent application of the infection control pathway is an efficacious measure for improving the air cleanliness of the neurosurgery OR, decreasing the incidence rates of postoperative complications and infection, as well as controlling pathogen transmission.